Found it on an other forum,hop is not posted yet cose is worth having here

The Famous Ten TTE Rally Toyotas-Supra to Celica to Corolla.

The world rally championship started in 1973, and the team which most conscientiously supported the series since this time has been Toyota.Click for larger image

Toyota arrived at exactly the right time! The first world level rally on which Toyota was officially represented was the final pre-championship rally, the 1972 RAC Rally, when Ove Andersson drove a type of car then little known in Europe.

This quiet entry with a Celica1600 GT began a rallying legend which only finished at the end of the century. This one man lived through this era from start to finish, and knew all the facts.

For many years he was the number one driver in the team as well as the boss. It was therefore an honour that Ove found time to explain the contribution made by each of the ten models of car used by the team.

Because of their size and neatness these cars soon developed an image and popularity, and gave them an unrivalled charisma in the sport. They looked like giant killers, and from time to time they were! These were the cars which great drivers, like Bjorn Waldegard, accustomed to the biggest and most powerful cars used in rallying, would happily drive.

"The original Corolla Levins were very nice cars," Andersson said. "There was no real reason why this should be, because they had no unusual specification available. They were really not very different from the Ford Escorts which in those days were considered to be the archtypal go everywhere rally car. The comparison with the Escort was never entirely fair, because about the time the Levin with its 1600 engine came along, the Escort was moving up through 1800cc to two litres.

"Nevertheless, the concept was the same just in smaller scale. To think that Hannu Mikkola could win the 1000 Lakes Rally in 1975 with a 1600cc engine when the opposition had then moved onwards and upwards showed just how good the car was. That really said everything about the car! It was an extremely easy car to drive.

"Obviously we at TTE had meanwhile been watching the development of the cars used by rival teams and wanted to rally the car with a 2 litre engine. We actually prepared a 2 litre version which was used on national events like in Britain, but the company did not want to homologate the car with a bigger engine, because that meant having to make production versions like that.

"In my mind, there is no doubt. If the Levin had been used in international events with a 2 litre engine, it would have been absolutely unbeatable."

The inter-relation of the early Celicas was so complex it is easier to speak of them all together. At the same time (1975/1976) that the Corolla was being campaigned, TTE were also running rallies with Celicas.

It was part of the philosphy of Toyota to use rallying to enhance the sport image of the Celica range, and cars from the Celica range were used in official rally competition from 1972 right through to 1995. The two types of Celica discussed here differed in the styling, engine size and number of valves.

The mechanicals were developed in a progressive way, not in relation to the bodywork into which they were fitted. When the vehicle regulations stopped teams using basically Group 2 cars with multi-valve engines in the Group 4 specification at the end of 1977, TTE reverted to using two valve engines and running the cars in Group 2 rules.

The RA45 was only designed to enter one rally, and featured a liftback rear bodywork. Multi-valve Celicas did not come until 1976 in the RA20 model. The TA cars were 1600, the RAs were 2 litre.

"When Toyota asked me to drive a Celica on the 1972 RAC Rally, I did not even know what a Celica was. I went to Japan to get acquainted. The car was nice to drive, but in its initial form it was hopeless, there was no chance for this to challenge the existing cars in the sport," Andersson recalls.

"The engine was only a 1600cc unit with an eight valve engine, although the winning cars in those days, like the Escorts, had sixteen valve 2 litre engines. When Hannu Mikkola did the 1976 RAC in a four valve Celica 2 litre, it was the first time we could claim having a rally car with a really competitive specification.

"This was a very good engine, but there was a bad problem with the weight balance of the car. The engine was quite heavy and it was mounted a long way forward in the chassis.

"That apart, the car was very good. With this car Hannu was leading in Greece and finished 2nd in the RAC behind Bjorn Waldegard in an Escort.

"At this time TTE was not equipped to iron out the technical problems and develop the car in the way that it should be. We had a lot of technical troubles, and if these could have been overcome these cars would have been very successful. They did a good job in keeping up with the two litre Escorts.

"In those days the Escorts and later the Fiat Abarth 131's were the yardsticks by which you measured orthodox rally cars capability."

4. Celica RA63 Group 4

This car used the squarer style bodywork, and what a shock it created at the time. Far away in New Zealand, the RA63 finished a world championship rally in first and second place overall! It had been seven years since Toyota had its previous world rally win, the first win for a Celica, always considered the unluckiest car in rallying.

But the biggest shock was the degree of sophistication in the construction of the car. This was the work of the specialist engineer Allan Wilkinson. The major surprise was the way the bodywork of the car was effectively shifted forward in relation to the running gear.

"Yes, Allan Wikinson, the chief rally engineer at TTE at that time, used the technical rules to the maximum to get the best possible balance of the car. When the weight balance is better you then get better traction and that was the reason for all the work.

"It was the same with all the front engined, rear drive cars at that time. You didn't have enough weight in the rear. With everything you did, you were trying to move weight to the rear in order to get the traction.

"New Zealand was the major success for this model, but we also used the car in the Ivory Coast and the RAC Rally, always in the same basic and bold specification."

5. Celica Twin Cam Turbo. TA64 Group B

Debut 1000 Lakes 1983, Kankkunen and WaldegardClick for larger image

This car represented a breakthrough in the fortunes of TTE. Not only did it bring new levels of technology and the basic concept involved, but it created a new winning spirit in the team. Although often used in Europe this was historically the 'Car of Africa'.

It brought a string of victories for Toyota in Kenya and Ivory Coast, places where one might imagine the heat and stresses under the bonnet, not to mention the technological complexity would be most unwelcome.

"Apart from the addition of the turbocharger and its ancilliary equipment, there wasn't anything particularly different between the Twin Cam Turbo and the RA63, though the basic engine was in fact an eight valve unit.

"It was the first time TTE had rallied turbocharged cars, but more significant than that, this was the first time we had rallied a car with electronic fuel injection. For everyone in the team this was a challenge!

"If I am allowed to take just one car from the TTE range into the next life, it would have to be the Twin Cam Turbo. That was the model which really made the team. Our successes in Africa are what made our team what it is today."

These six cylinder in-line engined cars were introduced as a stop gap, to keep active the team which was suddenly unable through reasons on an unexpected regulation change, from continuing with the car that had been running for four years. It was the only car rallied by TTE with anything other than a four cylinder engine.

The normally aspirated and the turbo versions were prepared at the same time, the latter fitted only with a standard intercooler and therefore only marginally more powerful.

"The trouble was that the Celica Twin Cam Turbo (the car we used to call the 'Whistling Pig') was a Group B car, and could not be used after the end of 1986, even though by that time it was a very basic design concept. Sure, TTE had already built a purpose designed four wheel drive mid-engined Group B prototype car in the current Supercar image, and this was more or less ready to go into production and therefore homologation.

"Then Henri Toivonen's accident happened and Group B was stopped, so after the end of 1996 the car we assumed we could continue with in the meantime (the Twin Cam Turbo) wasn't available.

"Suddenly TTE was left with nothing to rally and the Safari was coming up fast! The Supra was chosen because it was the only car with any possibility of providing the performance needed for competition, but was only intended as a stop gap until the chance occured to run a full four wheel drive Group A car.

"These cars were already being planned and were in pre-production test car form, but not yet ready for entering competition."

7. Celica GT Four ST165 (Group A)

Debut 1988 Corsica, Eriksson + Kankkunen

This was the first Toyota four wheel drive rally car. From its debut at the Tour de Corse in 1988 it took a season and half before it became a winner in Australia in 1989

"The first time this car appeared was the Tour de Corse in 1988 and already on its second outing it was leading the Acropolis. Everything about the car and especially the four wheel drive system was new.

"We had a lot of mechanical problems to sort out. From Australia 1989 onwards the car was quite OK. It may have seemed a long time to get going, but bear in my mind a year was not an unreasonable period of time to make such a car work.

"The main problem was the type of powertrain we were using. This was quite a new concept. It was the first transmission that Xtrac had made for rallying in that configuration with hydraulic clutch pack system that everyone uses today. It was way ahead of its time, but we had a lot of trouble with the support of the gears inside the unit.

"It was a long time before all the bearings and the necessary lubrication were mounted in the right places, and before the hydraulic pressure pumps stopped giving us trouble. We started off using the same power steering pumps that were designed for the gearbox, and we soon realised that they had to run independently.

"The hydraulic seals gave a lot of trouble. As a first step towards better rear differential control we used a hang on clutch system, which was a free wheel system for the rear differential. This was not the standby system while we perservered with the clutch pack unit that people imagined. The 'hoc' was designed to regulate to a greater degree the movement of torque at the rear end of the system. That was no innovation.

"The innovation was the clutch pack central differential which controlled the torque between front and rear axles. I think the ST165 must be the best car in its day that TTE ever rallied. In its day the Lancia and the Mazda were the main rivals, and the ST165 was better than the opposition. By this yardstick the ST165 was probably the best car we have ever had.

"In terms of speed, the ST165 was quite superior. I think it took Lancia a lot of effort to evolve a car able to beat the ST165!"

8. Celica Turbo 4WD ST185 (Group A)

This model externally had a more rounded bodywork. Internally there were bigger wheels, lighter bodyweight aimed at improved balance and the engine incorporated a twin entry turbo inlet system, aimed at providing better turbo response and better low speed performance.

In competition form it was a car in which a lot of work was taken in developing controlled transmission. The rally car used special equipment sold to the public on a homologation special version called the Carlos Sainz Limited Edition.

It was also the first time TTE had seriously used wind tunnel work in the design of the car.

"The main change after the ST165 was the bigger turbocharger and better intercooling systems. The basic engine and transmission systems were the same as the ST165," Andersson explained.

9. Celica GT Four ST205 (Group A)

Debut 1984 Australia, Kankkunen

The 205 included various extra special equipment that were needed for competition and which had to be built into production cars for homologation reasons, notably even bigger wheels (16 inch now standard) and water injection for the engine. It featured a bold rear wing design as well.

This is the car which brought disgrace to the team when the FIA found incorrectly modified turbochargers during the Catalunya Rally. This incident led to a one year exclusion from official participation in the World Rally Championship, although some selected events were entered for development purposes to test equipment being designed for the Corolla World Rally Car, for when the team would be allowed (in 1997) to return to the championship.

It was a car which emphasised the growing pace of development of the opposition, and the increased difficulty for the team to be competitive. It is a car the team never speaks much about, for these reasons...

"This car was very big with long body overhangs. In the end it offered no major advantage over the ST185 as a competition car."

10. Corolla World Rally Car. (Group A/WRC)

Debut 1997 1000 Lakes, Auriol and Gronholm

It was the first WRCar to be based on a completely new model of car, rather than an existing model. It featured small size and the FIA granted permission for Toyota to initially use the proven turbocharged engine from the Celica GT Four, modified as allowed under WRC rules.

Transmission development started conservatively, but by the start of 1999 fully active systems were used. A completely new model of engine was first used during the 1999 season.

After only a little more than two seasons, the official program for the Corolla WRCar came to an end when the team decided to leave rallying altogether.

"This finally was the car that I had wanted to use in rallying for more than twenty years! It was so nice that finally the rules made it possible for us to build a car that combined the compactness with the equipment in the right specification.

"It is difficult to say to what extent the Corolla WRC is the best car of its day for us. Nowadays the sport is very competitive, we are up against much stiffer opposition, and these days we are not depending for success so much on the basic format of the production car."

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Much thanks to RallySport Magazine and Martin Holmes for this great article.